First, I want to thank you. It means a lot that you guys are reading and leaving feedback.

A couple of things I feel are worth mentioning:

While the actress who played Trini was Vietnamese, the character Trini Kwan was Chinese. The subject was touched on briefly during the episode "Gung Ho" when Trini explained to Jason and Tommy that 'gung ho' means working together in Chinese. More importantly, Kwan is a Chinese last name, not Vietnamese.

Also, I've just started on chapter 12, and as of right now, I'm going to say this story will be no more than twenty chapters, probably less.

Thanks again!


Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Not mine.

December 22, 2005

South Lake Tahoe, NV

The next morning when Kimberly came down stairs, she found only Billy and Zack in the kitchen eating scrambled eggs and sausages. "Where are Jason and Trini?"

Billy picked up a piece of notepaper that was stuck onto the refrigerator and handed it to her. Kim's eyes doubled in size upon reading it, "are they crazy? They went running? It's freezing out there."

"That's not the only thing they did. Do you see the driveway? They cleared the snow from last night; it was snowing pretty heavily." Billy said, filling a plate for Kimberly.

Zack shrugged, "Well, since we did say we were just going to take it easy today, they probably wanted to get their work out in early."

"We said we were going to snowmobile, that's not exactly just sitting on our ass--"

Zack and Billy both laughed, "Kim, honey, I think we would be sitting on our ass."

"Oh shut up, stop being such a smart ass."

Zack leaned over to Billy and whispered loudly, "not that I could blame her, but I think she's a little obsessed with my ass."

Kimberly leaned over and whacked Zack on the head. "Those two are scary sometimes. Isn't this supposed to be a vacation? Couldn't they just take one leisure day, sit around and do nothing?"

"Talking about us?" Jason asked as he and Trini walked in together. Their faces and noses were red, either from their run or from the cold.

"Yes, are you guys okay?" asked Kim. They were both dressed in only long sleeve T-shirts and sweatpants.

"Of course," Jason said, grabbing two bottles of water and handing one to Trini. "It's a bit cold out there, but it's gorgeous."

Trini nodded, "Jason and I ran along the lake. It's absolutely beautiful."

"Don't you think it's a little cold out there?" asked Kim.

Jason nodded, "it's real cold. That's why we ran."

Kim sighed in annoyance and Trini shook her head, "I'm going to hit the shower and then we can head out."

"Take your time. There is no rush. I can fix you guys some breakfast while you shower." Billy offered. "Scrambled eggs and sausages or hash browns?"

"Hash browns, please. Thanks, Billy." Jason smiled and ran up the stairs.

The hash browns were still in the pan when Trini and Jason came back down, both have showered and changed into sweaters and jeans. "It must have been snowing last night. There's at least an extra foot of snow outside."

Billy nodded as he filled two plates with scrambled eggs and hash browns. "Yeah, today would be a great day for skiing."

Trini pouted and Jason hugged her, "We'll go back tomorrow."

"I know. I just miss it so much. Remember when we were in Switzerland? We used to be able to snowboard almost every weekend. Now? This is the first time I have been back up on the slope in the last year."

"Hey, remember that weekend skiing trip we went on in Engelberg? The one that was hosted by the school?" asked Zack, smiling as he relived some fond memories.

"Yeah, that was the first time Trini and I went snowboarding." Jason pondered, "Seems like a life time ago."

Zack turned to Kim and Billy, "that was supposed to be a ski trip, the school even supplied us with the equipment and everything, but Jason and Trini ditched us and went off snowboarding."

"It was Trini's idea. She wanted to try snowboarding, and then she just took to it like she was born with snowboard on. She was amazing," grinned Jason.

"So were you. Those two went to take a lesson and ended up leaving their instructor stranded on the slope while they raced around all day like they have been snowboarding for years." Laughed Zack as Jason and Trini sat down to eat their breakfast.

"Really?" Billy shook his head, chuckling along with Zack, "It doesn't surprise me one bit. Jason and Trini have always been exceptional athletes and they can learn anything in a tenth of the time that a normal person can."

"I'm more interested in what you guys did to the instructor and why," asked Kim.

Trini looked up innocently, "it was all Jason."

Jason had a matching innocent look, "I didn't do anything; the idiot was just clumsy."

Zack sneered, "probably had a little more to do with stupidity than clumsiness."

"I did say he was a clumsy idiot," said Jason, no longer smiling.

"What's the story?" asked Billy.

Jason just shook his head, and Zack laughed loudly, "Pretty Boy Noah tried to move in on Trini. He was lucky Jase didn't kick him down the mountain."

~flashback~

Trini jumped excitedly. "This is going to be so much fun. I always wanted to try snowboarding, but never had the chance."

Jason grinned at his girlfriend, her long, glossy, almost jet black hair was tied back in a single long braid, her face rosy due to the cold, mountain air, her eyes gleaming with excitement. Jason reached out and touched that baby soft skin of hers, and then leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You look really pretty."

Trini looked startled, "What?"

Jason just smiled. Then the moment was broken when their snowboard instructor came striding up to them. He was a young man in his early twenties, tall, broad, blonde hair, with beautiful blue eyes, the kind of guy that usually ended up modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch. He smiled at both of them and introduced himself as "Noah."

"Now I understand neither one of you had ever snowboarded before?"

Both Trini and Jason shook their heads, laughing slightly. "We both skate board and surf, does that help?" Trini asked. With her porcelain skin, clear, shinning eyes and a smile that was bright enough to eclipse the sun, she was strikingly adorable, and the effect wasn't lost on either man.

Sure enough, Noah was just a man, and a weak one at that. He looked Trini over appreciatively, "I'm sure that will help your balance. Although I must say, Trini, you look so graceful, I'm sure you will have no problem staying on the board."

Trini's smile dimmed immediately, she took a step closer to Jason and forced another smile, "Well, that's why Jason and I are here, to learn the basics so that we can stay on."

Noah smiled, flashing that Colgate smile of his, "Okay, so Trini, which is your stronger leg?"

"Beg your pardon?"

Noah flash that blinding smile again at Trini, totally ignoring Jason, "Which leg do you kick with if you were playing…soccer?"

"Dude, they already set things up when we picked up our boards," Jason chimed in impatiently.

Noah glared at Jason and Trini bumped him slightly to get him to back off.

"Oh, my right, I guess." Trini answered, wishing they had another instructor, preferably an ugly, female instructor. "Oh, so does Jason."

"Right, of course." Noah came forward and took Trini's snowboard, laying it down on the ground. "Since you will be pushing off with your right leg, you want to put on your left foot into the binding as that will be your front foot."

"Okay," Trini said, sticking her booted foot onto the board.

"Here, let me help you."

Trini quickly slid her foot in before Noah had even finished speaking, "Thanks, but I got it. Why don't you help Jason?"

Jason crossed his arms across his chest and grinned almost evilly, "Yeah, dude, I can really use some help over here."

Noah stepped over to Jason reluctantly, "Right, of course. You need to step into the binding." Noah said leaning down and showing Jason where to insert his boot just as Jason kicked his boot into the binding, kicking Noah in his hand. "Ouch!"

"Oh, man, I'm so sorry! I didn't really kick you that hard, did I?"

Trini turned her head away, but Jason could see her shoulder shaking slightly. His grin widened and he deliberately adopted a somewhat stupid look on his face, "I hope I didn't hurt you."

"No, no, of course not." Noah gritted his teeth. "You got it. That's it." He rubbed his hand back and forth on his jacket. "Trini, how are you doing?"

Trini turned around and she has now put on her sunglasses, so her expressive eyes were no longer visible. "Fine, just waiting for instruction."

"Right, okay, let's see, the first thing we do is to learn how to skate. You will need do this as you enter or exit the lift or if you need to go uphill. The way to do this is to keep your front foot in the binding and kick with your back foot." Noah demonstrated, then watched as both Trini and Jason did it perfectly with no effort at all. "Good, good, that's it. You are a natural at this, Trini."

"Next, we are going to learn how to do the heel and toe slides, traverse and linking the turns."

Jason and Trini watched Noah demonstrated and they both got it on the first try.

Noah watched as Trini practiced again linking the turns, her movements graceful and sure. "You are amazing, Trini. I have never seen anyone who can pick up snowboarding as quickly as you can."

Trini rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses while Jason muttered beside her in a voice soft enough that only she could hear, "Right, you are the goddess and I am the village idiot. I should have kicked him in the head."

"Don't you dare do anything to get us kicked out of here. I want to snowboard."

"How could I do anything?" muttered Jason. "I'm invisible."

Before Trini could form an answer, Noah was once again standing right in front of her, invading her space. They had gone uphill while learning how to skate; consequently, they were standing on top of a small hill. "Okay, the next thing we are going to do is learn how to glide. We are going to glide down this hill. The way to do this is really simple. Once you find your balance, place your back foot in front of the back binding and lean forward. That will coast you downhill, point your toes down to move forward and shift your weight back to slow down or stop. Trini, why don't give it a try. Don't be afraid. I'll be gliding right by your side."

Jason snorted, "Well, since Trini is the graceful, limber one here, she's not going to need you to hold her hands. I'm the bumbling idiot, maybe you should be gliding by my side."

Noah had the audacity to glare at Jason, "Maybe I should find you another instructor. I think Trini is ready to do some real snowboarding. I was thinking of taking her up the chairlift to the next slope so she could get the feel of a real run."

Before Jason could reply, Trini jumped right in, "Yeah, I want to go up to a higher slope, but Jason is coming with us."

"Trini, I really don't think Jason is ready. One of our other instructor, Jonathon, has another class that he's teaching right now. I can put Jason in—"

Now it was Trini who glared at Noah, "Jason is just shy and modest. He's actually doing better than I am. If he isn't ready, then neither am I."

Noah took a deep breath, and then glanced at both of his students before grinning, "Of course, as you wish, we will all head for a higher slope. Follow me." With that, Noah took off for the chairlift, skating quickly toward the lift. His attempt at showing off was obvious, but he was in for a rude awakening when his two students overtook him and arrived at the base of the lift before he did. Noah watched in dismay as his two students shared a chairlift and took off without him. "Wait, Trini, you need to be careful getting off the lift—"

Jason and Trini executed a perfect exit on the chairlift simply by watching the people in the front. They got off and glide to one side, then watch as some other snowboarders took off. "Hey, I think we could do this on our own. I don't think we need Mr.-I-Am-the-Idiot-Who-Is-Hitting-on-Jason's-Girl to teach us anything."

Trini leaned over and kissed his lightly, "You're right. Let's just dump this jerk and do this on our own."

But before they could take off, Noah rushed up to them, finally gotten it through to his brain he could get into serious trouble if either one of his students ended up getting hurt. "Trini, let's take this slow. We'll go down together. Jason, why don't you wait here, and I will come back for you."

Knowing that his girl was about to lose her temper and ended up being the one to get them kicked out, Jason quickly stepped in. "No, I don't like standing in the cold. I think you and I should go down first. You don't mind, do you, Trini?"

Trini grinned. She was past caring. There were plenty of ski resorts in Switzerland. Enough was enough, and that idiotic instructor deserves whatever Jason has planned. "No, not at all."

Noah was still trying to protest, but Trini had already stepped off to one side. She had no intention of waiting. As soon as they take off, so was she. She felt comfortable enough to know that she could easily get down the hill safely.

"Okay, come on, Noah, let's do this, okay, buddy?" Then, to Trini shock and amusement, Jason slapped Noah hard on his back and sends him careening down the slope while desperately trying to maintain his balance. After fumbling for about fifty yards, Noah lost the fight and went face down into the snow. Trini glanced at Jason, "I feel bad. Maybe we should check on him."

Jason shrugged and they glided down the slope and executed a perfect stop right in front of Noah, who was lying on his side, his boot had came off the binding and his board ended up sitting in the snow. "Hey, dude, you okay?" Jason asked sympathetically, then stuck out his foot and "accidentally" kicked Noah's board, watching with a great deal of satisfaction as the board glided down the slope on its own and soon disappeared from sight completely.

Noah finally managed to sit up and glared at Jason angrily, "You did that on purpose." He tried to stand, but his ankle gave out on him and he sat back down on the snow. "Oh, my God, I think I've hurt my ankle."

"Of course I did that on purpose, just like you tried to steal my girl on purpose, so I guess that makes us even. Now, I'm sorry if you are really hurt. Since we don't want to see you get stranded out here, and I am such a nice guys and all, we will report this to the office and make sure your boss send someone up here to help you down."

"Wait, no, Jason, don't! Trini!"

Trini didn't even bother to acknowledge him, instead she just snowboard down the slope like a pro with Jason following her.

~End flashback~

"Man, I can totally see that happening." Billy laughed uproariously. "Was Noah okay?"

Jason shrugged, "Much as I just wanted to bury that S.O.B., I did promise to send help. I think they had to bring him down on a stretcher."

"That story was the highlight for a lot of us that weekend. We were staying in a two-bedroom chalet. Remember Jasmine? Every time she ran from one room to the other, we get to hear a different story."

Trini chuckled, "Oh yeah, I liked the one where Noah was actually hitting on Jason and I went psycho and attacked him with my snowboard, which was how he broke his ankle."

"My favorite was the one where Noah tried to kidnap you and I chased you guys all over the slopes and then clobbered him," Jason shook his head.

"Man, those were the good, old days!" reminisced Zack. "All twenty of us cramped into two little rooms."

"Well, if it would make you happier, Zack, we could move into the guest house. Mind you, there are only 2 bedrooms and we would all have a share a bathroom, but---"

"No, no, no, no, we are good here. Besides, none of us would get any counter space in the bathroom with Kimberly around."

And just everyone expected, Kimberly reached over and whacked Zack on the head.

Jason chuckled, "It's good to know something never changes."

**